Is Hot Process Soap Better Than Cold Process?

With cold process being a lot easier and more hands-off to make, why would anyone bother with hot process soap at all? There are a few different reasons, and one of them is that it might be better for your skin.

Like anything else, this is up for debate. I’m sure you’ll find an endless amount of opinions on either side of the fence. All we know for sure at this point is that hot process soap might be better for your skin, or it might be exactly the same as cold-process.

Why Would Hot Process Be Any Better Than Cold Process?

Those who argue that it is better make this point, which is a pretty good one:

If essential oils are used in the soap, when using the hot process method, it’s added after the soap is “cooked.” The “cook” is when saponification, or the reaction between your soaping oils and lye solution take place, creating soap. This means that by the point you add in your essential oils (after the cook when it’s technically soap), the lye is “dead”. It can’t cause any chemical reactions in the essential oils.

With cold process, since the essential oils are added before saponification takes place, certain essential oils will react with the lye. The EOs will technically be chemically different as a result. This can change and reduce the scent in your oils. It could even change the benefits you might otherwise receive from them.

Follow Your Nose

I can tell the difference in at least the strength of the scent of lavender essential oil, which is notorious for fading in cold process soap. In hot process soap, the lavender scent is a lot more noticeable to me.

If something we can clearly sense, like smell, is stronger in hot process soap, it makes sense that the beneficial properties of essential oils might also be stronger in hot process soap. Yet the flipside is also true – if there are undesirable effects to your skin caused by an essential oil, those might be stronger in hot process soap.

So What’s the Final Call? Is It Better or Not?

None of this is conclusive or scientifically proven by any means, so take from it what you will. I’ll just keep it simple and say hot process soap may be better for your skin, especially if the essential oils within the soap are ones that work well with your particular type of skin.